Fiscal year 2025 executive and director compensation, incentive-plan design, equity activity, and governance — every figure in this brief is traceable to its exact location in the company’s SEC filing — the document, the section, the page, and the table, linked directly.
Each company listed discloses BKE in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named BKE in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.
| Named executive officer | Salary | Bonus | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Pension / NQDC | All other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Nelson | $1,300,000 | $4,503,597 | $5,713,200 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $189,485 | $11,706,282 |
| President and CEO | ||||||||
| Kari Smith | 690,000 | 1,156,329 | 942,678 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48,135 | 2,837,142 |
| Executive Vice President of Stores | ||||||||
| Brett Milkie | 670,000 | 1,065,040 | 876,024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46,229 | 2,657,293 |
| Senior Vice President of Leasing | ||||||||
| Thomas Heacock | 635,000 | 1,065,040 | 876,024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66,226 | 2,642,290 |
| Senior Vice President of Finance and CFO | ||||||||
| Michelle Hoffman | 494,000 | 882,462 | 666,540 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38,464 | 2,081,466 |
| Senior Vice President of Sales | ||||||||
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.
| Named executive officer | FY2025 total | FY2024 total | FY2023 total | Δ FY2024→2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Nelson | $11,706,282 | $8,817,953 | $9,825,399 | +2,888,329 |
| Kari Smith | 2,837,142 | 2,173,975 | 2,344,260 | +663,167 |
| Brett Milkie | 2,657,293 | 2,042,399 | 2,185,125 | +614,894 |
| Thomas Heacock | 2,642,290 | 2,034,829 | 2,181,648 | +607,461 |
| Michelle Hoffman | 2,081,466 | 1,586,933 | — | +494,533 |
Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.
No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.
| Meeting year | Meeting date | For | Against | Abstain | Support | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-01 | 42,971,864 | 1,516,777 | 116,687 | 96.59% | Passed |
Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year's compensation.
| Meeting year | Meeting date | Approval — company's computation |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2026-06-01 | 96.59%a |
a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker non-votes will not be counted as votes cast in determining the number of votes required for approval.”.
Approval percentages are the company's own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.
| Annual cash retainer | $60,000 |
|---|---|
| Annual equity retainer | $142,830 |
| Per board meeting fee | — |
| Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov) | — |
| Stock ownership guideline | $10,000 |
Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company's own proxy statement.
| Rank | Company | FY | Chief executive | Salary | Stock awards | Option awards | Non-equity incentive | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckle | 2025 | Dennis Nelson | $1,300,000 | $5,713,200 | $0 | $0 | $11,706,282 |
Each peer's compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer's figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.
Each figure's location is given both for the eye (section · page · table · row · column) and for a script (table/row/column index and exact character span in the filed document). Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.
| # | Supports | Document | Filed | Accession | Location in document |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Section 01, Dennis Nelson | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 11,706,282. Filing ↗machine: r4 · c54 · span 327971–327981 |
| 2 | Section 01, Kari Smith | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 2,837,142. Filing ↗machine: r12 · c54 · span 353070–353079 |
| 3 | Section 01, Brett Milkie | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 2,657,293. Filing ↗machine: r16 · c54 · span 365615–365624 |
| 4 | Section 01, Thomas Heacock | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 2,642,290. Filing ↗machine: r8 · c54 · span 340516–340525 |
| 5 | Section 01, Michelle Hoffman | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 2,081,466. Filing ↗machine: r20 · c54 · span 378164–378173 |
| 6 | Section 06, 2026 vote | Form 8-K | 2026-06-02 | 0000885245-26-000027 | Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 96.59% (votes for as printed: 42,971,864). Filing ↗ |
| 7 | Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed) | Computed | — | computed | Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.machine: formula: Δ = FY(n) − FY(n−1) |
| 8 | Buckle (subject), Section 10b CEO total | DEF 14A | 2026-04-22 | 0000885245-26-000016 | CEO total compensation as printed in Buckle's own proxy. As printed: 11,706,282. Filing ↗machine: r4 · c54 · span 327971–327981 |